


Eternal Love

by HelaFrankenstein



Category: Star Wars
Genre: Immortals, M/M, Protective Obi-Wan, Soulmates, totally au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-02-05
Updated: 2016-09-08
Packaged: 2018-05-18 10:33:12
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,502
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5925256
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HelaFrankenstein/pseuds/HelaFrankenstein
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Obi-Wan Kenobi had lived in this galaxy for millennia. He saw it all - the rise of the Jedi order and the rocky beginnings of the Sith, he saw the stars burn and planets being torn apart. Nothing of it could have prepared him for one particular boy from Tatooine.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everyone :D I hope this isn't much crap (but it is, you've been warned). I have to admit that English isn't my mother tongue so please ignore all the mistakes. Have a good time :)

    Obi-Wan hated sunlight.  
   It had always felt like his skin was being peeled off by a hot knife, layer by layer. His eyes stung and his mouth was going as dry as this damned desert, but he couldn't stop right now. W _hen you're walking through hell, keep walking._ He took one long stride after another, making his way through the Sea of Dunes as the two suns of Tatooine mercilessly shone on his cloaked figure.  
   The cloak had been his only protection against the cruel rays. Without it, his skin would really peel off and he'd burn to a cinder. Gross. That would put an end on his stupid, centuries long roaming through the galaxy.  
   _Seven hells, Kenobi, you're too old for walks like this_ , he grinned under the hood of his cloak.  
   He kept on walking for hours, until the horizon burned red with the double sunset. He walked until the sky went violet and then dark blue, dotted with thousands of stars and only then he stopped.  
   The sand was getting cold very quickly. Obi-Wan shook of the dark cloak and sat down, burying his hands in it. He could feel it - the living Force was seeping through everything on this half-burned planet. Through every damned rock. Every grain of sand. Incredible. It was weaker, but strong enough for him to heal his burnt palms. He sipped the coldness like a fine tea, let it flow through his core and cool him down. Soon, he was on his way again.  
   Some hundred standard years ago, Obi-Wan met a young Sith man who found a way how to move midichlorians in one's body, thus preserving a life. To an undying creature it ment only a little. Eternity was something he discovered a long time ago. The Sith had always craved it, always banged on his door wherever he decided to hide, always hoping to never die. They didn't succeed for millenia, not even Bane, the greatest of them all. He was killed by his apprentiece sooner than Obi-Wan had the chance to told him how batshit crazy he was.  
   But Plagueis was different. He found a way to stop his body from aging and where Obi-Wan needed someone's living Force to keep him alive, Plagueis needed only his midichlorians. But like all Sith, he was still craving for more. He wanted to stop people around him from dying, not only to stretch his own time, so he started making experiments. A year back, he accidentaly sent a mindblowing number of midichlorians across the galaxy. Plagueis didn't know where did he sent them and he honestly didn't care.  
   He created a life.  
   For Obi-Wan, year was no more than a mere sigh. It was different for mortals, so much different. He shouldn't be even taken aback when he heard that Plagueis was dead, murdered in his sleep by a cowardly apprentice hungry for power. His name was Sidious and he knew the secret of eternity. But like with all Sith, he wanted more, so Sidious decided to find the creation of his dead Master, the child made from the livind Force and get to know the secret of creation. Sometimes, the Sith were really unnerving like that.  
   Obi-Wan had to stop him. He saw enough to know that the balance in the Force had to be maintained. Letting the young Sithling find the way of creating life like that wouldn't do the galaxy much good. He had to shield it.  
   The fact that the child had to be born on Tatooine seemed like a kick from the karma.  
   From all the places in the galaxy, it had to be Mos Espa. Obi-Wan had been here before, a long time ago when he got curious about the Hutts and their outlaw empire. The city didn't change at all. It was still poor and overcrowded, full of creatures not to mess with, more a spaceport than anything else. The night didn't help with the crowds at all. Obi-Wan made his way through the marketplace, guided by the unmistaken call of the Force. It guided him from the very moment he landed on this planet - _well, in the middle of a wasteland, well played Kenobi, well played_ \- like if he was destinied to find the child. The Force was pulling him towards it with such a strenght Obi-Wan doubted that he'll get out of this unmarked.  
   He followed it until he found himself standing in front of a slave room. So the poor child was born a slave - Obi-Wan hated slavery from the beginning of time, the whole prospect of owning a human being against its will was sick. He felt a wave of nausea washing over him as soon as he forced the wooden door open.  
   The room was darkened, the only light coming from the moon through a small window. It smelled like sweat and salt as much as a cheap perfume of the pleasure slaves. He counted twelve. Twelve bodies in various stages of nakedness huddled together on the ground, some of them were snoring lightly. A single woman was lying few feet away, clutching a small wicker basket with a bony hand.  
   Obi-Wan couldn't fight back a smile when he heard the baby whine. The Force was so strong here that it made his head ache, but he kneeled next to the basket nonetheless-  
   "Don't you dare!" The bony hand was suddenly clutching his freshly healed palm, sharp nails digging in. The mother awakened to protect her child from the intruder, he smiled for himself again. She wasn't very Force sensitive, but on the other hand, Obi-Wan always had a damn strong presence in it, so even she should feel he ment no harm to the now crying child.  
   "Don't worry," he hushed. Her sharp eyes shone in the moonlight but they closed as soon as he said: "Sleep." Living eternal had its perks, just like mastering some small mind tricks.  
   He took the fragile little being out of his wicker nest and cradled the child in his arms. It was a blue eyed boy, his small hands immediately fisted in the fabric of Obi-Wan's cloak as the man brought him closer to his chest. Obi-Wan reached out through the Force, touching the child's mind with his own. It was his first time connecting to a child, well, literally a toddler. The boy's presence was a warm glow, stronger than some of the most trained Force users in the galaxy.  
   Little children can't communicate through the Force the way adults can, but Obi-Wan had seen Masters in the Jedi Temple communicating with the smallest of their younglings - they shared images with the children and the children sent back emotions. Sure, he couldn't get any feedback from a toddler, but Obi-Wan liked the idea anyway. He concentrated on everything friendly and warm and pushed the sensation towards the child.  
   It felt like a miracle. The baby beamed at him, toothles mouth open in one big smile and Obi-Wan felt a wave of warmth washing over him. It was unbelievable. He gasped when the innocent bright mind touched his, he could feel the trust and joy and he wondered if this was how it felt to have a child. The huge blue eyes watched his every move, so trusting and clearly enjoying his presence and Obi-Wan knew he was lost.  
   He cuddled the little being closer to his chest and bend his head to place a gentle kiss on the baby's forehead. The boy grasped one of the sandy strands of his hair and tugged, his laughter ringed in the dirty, universe-forgotten slave room in the middle of the desert. If this wasn't how the hope looked like, then Obi-Wan didn't know any of it. His heart sank a little when he realized that with a starting point like this, the boy's chances on having good life drastically lowered. If he only could give this child something, anything to make his life better. Anything that could shield the extraordinary little boy from the Sith that was trying to find him. Obi-Wan refused to imagine what horrible things could the power-hungry Sithling do to a defenseless child.  
   The boy sensed Obi-Wan's sadness and drew in a shaky breath. He was going to cry. "Shhh baby boy, it's okay," he muttered. Obi-Wan couldn't give the boy anything.  
   _Well, he could-_  
   Obi-Wan kneeled down and put the squirming toddler in the basket. The boy was still reaching to him with his little hands, trying to catch his hair. Such a precious creature. Obi-Wan couldn't give him any possession. Hell, he didn't have much of his own - the eternity is a nomadic way of life.  
   Such a precious child. The idea might seemed twisted to someone but Obi-Wan didn't care. He could gift the child with something way better. He could give the boy someone to watch over him. It took him a ten heartbeats to build a makeshift bond.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've got a strange feeling that this is getting way out of hand. What am I doing with my life?   
> Oh, and please excuse my bad English.

   _Calm down, child. Breathe._  
   Anakin felt the warm presence surrounding him, falling over his curled form like a blanket. Well, it was actually a lot better than the old ratty one he threw over himself in attempt of hiding his misery form the whole wide world. He sucked in a small amount of air and broke into another loud sob. This couldn't be true!  
 _Why are you crying?_  
   He thought that angels were supposed to know things, but his guardian angel came out little slow. On the other hand, mom said she didn't have any angel and Kitster only punched his arm when he mentioned it, so Anakin guessed that having a slow angel was still better than having none. He could hear the low voice since he could remember, it had always been there, a calming presence in the corner of his mind. When he told mom for the first time, she wanted to take him to healer, but Kitster’s grandmother told her that the angels were real beings living somewhere on the planet Iego and that she should be grateful that of all the people in the galaxy, one of them chose Anakin to watch over. Mom wasn’t happy at all. She said something about bad beings crawling into houses at nights, dark beings talking to children and making them sick.   
   Anakin believed none of it. Ben was good. He watched over him. Everytime he got himself into trouble, Ben was here to give him an advice. When he was sad or felt alone, Ben was always there for him, Anakin could feel it. Maybe the angel could help him even now.  
   "Watto, he-" Anakin started, but his voice broke. He didn't get it at all. He worked well. He was polite to all the customers. He repaired all the engines, droids and vaporizers Watto told him to repair. Why would the Toydarian sell him? Why?! Yes, he had some debts from gambling with Sebulba and the others, but..  
 _What?_  
   It took him four deep breaths and lots courage to say it out loud. "He wants to sell me. Not us, just.. me."  
   The words ringed in the deafening silence residing in their small home. Mom was still in work. When Watto bought them from Gardulla the Hutt, they were given their own tiny apartment - just Anakin and his mom, together. It was only two rooms, small kitchen and even smaller sonic shower, but for Anakin it was the safest place in the universe. As soon as the door fell shut behind him, there were no owners, no slave traders, only mom. Well, and Ben, technically.  
   Without mom, he'll be alone. Dread creeped up his spine and sat itself behind his neck just like the cloaked monster mom told him about. Without her, no one would love him, hug him and no one would kiss his fears away. He would be alone. All alone.  
   Dangerously close to a panic attack, Anakin scooped closer to the wall behind his back. His bed was in the farther corner of the smaller room. It gave him a feeling of security, like if nothing bad could jump on him if he could see the whole room.  
   "Ben?" He said in quiet voice, hoping the angel would hear him. "I don't wanna be alone."  
   The feeling he received in return was something Anakin didn't quite know. It was warm and comforting like a mother's hug, but sad at the same time. Did he said something wrong? He didn’t want to make the angel sad. He was going to lose mom, he didnt want to lose his angel too.  
   "Ben?"  
 _You won't be alone. I promise._

  
***

  
   More than eight standard years passed and Obi-Wan still didn't get over the Tatooine child.  
   _Sith_ , he tried really hard - yes he did, for like a three days - to resist and not to check up on the boy every damn day, but he failed. The bond felt weak at first, but the more he used it, the stronger it got and soon, Obi-Wan was able to reach to the boy even from the Inner Rim.  
   He hadn't been on Tatooine ever since. It was too dangerous. Sidious kept an eye on him. He was growing bolder and more restless as his time began to shorten. He knew the boy was somewhere in the Outern Rim. He might still be nothing more than a Sithling hidden in the shadow of his dead master, but he knew that Obi-Wan knew something. As much as he wanted to see how was the child, he could do more damage than good.  
   That’s when he really came to appreciate the bond he created with the toddler. At first, he felt like a criminal - no one was supposed to be invading the mind of a defenseless baby - but the very next day when he left Tatooine far behind, feeling the child’s sleepy but happy mind made him feel all kinds of right. He could look after the child, somehow. The boy didn't even realize that someone was touching his mind. He grew so used to it that he projected his thoughts to Obi-Wan nearly on daily basis and when he was old enough, they started to send small sentences instead of emotions.  
   The boy's name was Anakin Skywalker.  
   Thousand years of living could not prepare Obi-Wan for him. The boy was like a hurricane of emotions. He could go from happy to excited to crying faster than Obi-Wan said hello, but he was a good child. He was very hard-working and intelligent. He was repairing droids since he could hold tools, something Obi-Wan was unable to figure out for a whole lifetime. What amused Obi-Wan the most was how hard could Anakin love.   
   Obi-Wan couldn't let Watto separate him from the person he loved the most.  
   It took him four days to get from the Deep Core to the sand planet and when he finally landed in Mos Espa, he wasn't sure if it wasn't too late. From the very moment of their last small talk, Anakin projected only fear. They wanted to sell him. From the things Anakin mentioned to him, the Toydarian owning him now was a decent person - in compare to other slave owners. He didn't beat the boy or his mother, he gave them an apartment to live in and they weren't hungry anymore. But that could change right now. Anakin could end up belonging to someone sick or cruel. _Or you could buy him._ No,no, no. That was totally out of question. He was already overly-attached to the child, so much that he couldn't imagine what would it feel like if the boy died- _No, Kenobi._   
   Finding Watto’s shop was harder than he expexted, mainly because his Hutesse was probably as good as his droid-building skills. Thanks Force that the kid could speak basic.  
   Sharp pain exploded in the centre of his skull, making Obi-Wan gasp for air. It felt like someone just shot him with a blaster, right between the eyes.  
   _Ben!_

***

 

   They forced his mouth open. Checked his teeth. Touched his hair. Touched his hands.  
   “Let go!” Anakin shouted. He was a person, not someone's property. They would have to drag him away kicking and screaming.  
   He’d never seen mom like this. She was usually quiet and kind to everyone, even the ones that wronged her. Anakin didn’t notice her doing anything until the man holding him howled in pain and hecould see the hilt of a screwdriver sticking out of his shoulder. The much older man shouted something Anakin couldn’t understand and pointed a blaster at her head.  
   “No! Mom!” He kicked the man’s shin - the slaver was already distracted by the tool in his arm and let go of him.  
   “Anakin run!”  
   Then, everything happened too fast. He was running out of the shop, onto the busy market street. Anakin could hear the two men shouting at each other, shouting at Watto who was so pissed of that he switched to Toydarian. _Thud._  
   “Wha-”  
   “Ow!” His body connected with something solid. Strong hands gripped his shoulders, preventing him from falling on his face. “Sorry,” he apologized, hoping that he didn't bump into any dangerous folk. Anakin steadied himself and took a step back, but the hands on his arms stayed.  
   “I’m sorry-” He looked up, instantly freezing on a spot.  
   “It’s all right.”  
   He knew that face. The bright green eyes, the hair. The low voice. The feeling of unquestioned safety that oozed from this strange man. Anakin felt like he knew this person for his entire life, just as well as he knew his mom and the coarse sands of Tatooine. He could feel the pull towards him. Realization tingled down his spine. He gasped. “Ben.”  
   The man’s face split into the brightest smile in the galaxy. His eyes shone from underneath the dark cloak, happy and warm, just as Anakin always imagined. He kneeled down into the sand, stroking the boy’s arms in a comforting gesture. “Hello Anakin. I thought you could use a helping hand." _  
_

Anakin couldn't bring himself to speak, but the man - the angel that came from across the galaxy to save him from the slavers just as he promised - could hear his thoughts anyway, so he just smiled and nodded.

_You do exist._

_You are here for me._

 

 

 


	3. Chapter 3

  Qui-Gon Jinn. Of all the living beings in the galaxy, it had to be Qui-Gon Jinn, the maverick.

 _He's going to be a Jedi._ Obi-Wan groaned, running his fingers through his damp hair. The shower was supposed to calm his nerves but it didn't help a damn thing. Well, hiding on his little home planet of Stewjon also didn't solve anything, but he couldn't stand living at Coruscant and watching the Jedi Temple every day. Nope.

  A bittersweet grin appeared on his face - this is how Anakin's mom must be feeling right now. Abandoned, cut off, torn but happy for her child. The boy will be a Jedi. Hell, Obi-Wan never really liked them. Most of his time, he used to prefer the Sith - at least, they did what was in their nature and didn't try to change themselves just to fit some damn Code. He used to talk with Plagueis very often, but the Sithling that killed him and decided to proclaim the only right way was the rule of one was just asking to be shot down.

  They tried to kill Anakin. Sidious, the damned snake sent Maul to fetch the boy. Obi-Wan remembered rushing through the desert with the boy gripping his hand, while the scorching heat made every centimeter of his cloaked body slowly burn. The boy was somehow used to it. His skin wasn't turning that ugly shade of red nor was it chipping off, it was glowing golden with youth and health and he had to remind himself that it's the way normal, mortal beings are. They don't need to creep out in the night or suck the living Force out of anything in sight to stay alive. They just exist for sixty or so years, fragile ad hungry and afraid of death, while he watches them come and go. However, some of them are like stars. They burn as bright as any of the suns, for whole galaxies to see, and when they fade away, everything fades with them.

  Obi-Wan didn't doubt Anakin was the brightest burning star he'd ever seen. Thousands of years couldn't dull that - the boy's presence in the Force was so strong Obi-Wan's head pounded. It was raw and unrestrained, a mass of emotions - fear, sadness but also joy - that could be sensed miles away.

  It blew his mind away. He had to get his rations of the living Force daily, usually from plants and small animals and occasionally from some oblivious people at space ports, but Obi-Wan could say that if he fed from the boy only once, it would be enough for him to go on for a week.

  When Maul attacked them, they were a mere two miles from his ship. He remembered shouting at Anakin: "Run, run to the ship!" The Zabrak engaged Obi-Wan in a fight, but his style was a maze of jumps and spins and Obi-Wan was gifted his first lightsaber only fifty years ago and still lacked the confidence needed to wield such a powerful weapon. Plagueis believed he'll eventually excel at that task, but even great Siths can be foolish. Obi-Wan deactivated it and tossed the blue saber away. The Force was his way to go. He managed to knock Maul off his feet several times, yet still he eventually found himself on the losing end.

_He failed Anakin._

  The boy was sprinting through the waste desert, followed by the Sith apprentice while he lied in the sand, a pitiful heap of flesh and cloaks, the heat of Tatooine's twin suns slowly peeling his skin off. Really, he should be grateful that Qui-Gon Jinn appeared and slashed the Zabrak in half. Obi-Wan heard the boy screaming his name, begging the Jedi Master to _"help me find Ben! I can't let him die here,"_ but the man turned a deaf ear to his pleas.

  That was almost a year ago. Still, the sense of loss remained, just as did the shame.

  The boy became Qui-Gon's apprentice and the makeshift bond they shared vanished, replaced by a Jedi training bond.  Sometimes, Obi-Wan caught a glimpse of a feeling that wasn't his own - joy, determination, childish anger and sometimes, when the midnight came and everything swam in darkness, he felt a strange sadness that mirrored the hole in his chest - but the truth was that Anakin was generally happy. That was the only relief for his haunted mind.

  _Oh, Maker! You were such a fool, Kenobi. What were you thinking, attaching yourself to a random child like that?_ It was a stupid thing to do. He shouldn't care about the boy. He shouldn't care about anyone in this galaxy, neither Jedi nor Sith, humans, Twi'leks, Hutts. _No one._ They were a mere flickers, living their comically short lives in constant chase of something greater, something more, and then they failed and burned out and the flicker was gone. Obi-Wan burned eternal. He should not care about them in the slightest, yet he still found himself drawn to their flickering light. The mortals chased an ideal, a belief, a freedom, they kicked and screamed and fought their way through their little lives, refusing to give up. They might die one day, but there's always another flicker to take their place, so while one light eventually dies, together they shine more than anything eternal. They light the universe.

  Jedi and Sith alike, they were all mortals. Both pursued their respective goals with vigor, pushing each other to their limits only for the pendulum to swing to the other side, for the coin to flip and for the race to start again.

  But the concept was changing.

  Sidious desired immortality with every cell of his cursed being. He wrapped himself in the dark side completely, losing most of his humanity in the process. Except for the mask he wore. Obi-Wan vaguely remembered watching the Holonet news and seeing the Sith's human face smiling at the prospect of _Galaxy United in Freedom_. He hoped to replace Tarsus Valorum and become the chancellor of the Galactic Republic. He achieved it few days after Obi-Wan crawled from that damned sandhole. Since then, Naboo was freed from the Trade Federation which was now marked as an actual enemy of the Republic, the Jedi council confirmed a Sith appearance in The Outern Rim and the Holonet proclaimed Anakin Skywalker the Chosen One.

  The galaxy was heading into a turmoil and Obi-Wan had a sickening feeling he'll have to watch it fall apart once more.

 

***

 

  The Coruscant sky was unnerving.

  Anakin sat on the tiny balcony in the quarters he shared with his Master and stared aimlessly at the black nothingness hanging above the city planet. Everything was so damn dull he couldn't see a single star, but he still tried. Somewhere far, far from here was his mom, probably repairing some broken vaporizer at Watto's or maybe she was also watching the sky, thinking about him. Anakin missed her so much. He squinted his eyes, turned his head in every direction possible and almost cracked his neck until Master Qui-Gon came and told him about the light pollution and that the many lights and neons from the city made it impossible to see the stars. He also offered to borrow Master Windu's telescope tomorrow, much to Anakin's excitement.

  Life with Master Qui-Gon was good. The kind-hearted Jedi reminded Anakin of his mom. He took care of him, taught him things about the Force, the galaxy and the Jedi knights, taught him how to swim and fight and wield a lightsaber. Anakin was given a green lightsaber of his own and even while he could activate it only while training with Master Qui-Gon, he was so proud of it. Yet, the black-hilted saber Ben tossed his way back on Tatooine was still well-hidden in the small box of his belongings, tucked under his bed. It was the only material proof of Ben’s existence and Anakin was not giving it away, no matter what.

  Watching the stars made him feel closer to mom, and somehow, closer to Ben, even if he couldn't see any. Anakin often thought about the angel. They were connected, on some level he couldn't describe - it was akin to his training bond, yet different, more _natural_. They shared this thing since Anakin could remember, every time he reached out Ben was there, so when it broke he felt.. Empty. Incomplete. Piece of his mind was gone.

  He saw the man fighting the cloaked figure, a Sith, and losing, receiving a slash over his torso. _Ben died_. Anakin thought angels don't die, but he couldn't feel anything, absolutely anything from him. Once again, he was alone.


End file.
